1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bumper for a hard disk drive.
2. Background Information
A hard disk drive contains a plurality of magnetic recording heads that are coupled to a number of rotating disks. The heads can magnetize and sense the magnetic fields of the disks to write and read information as is known in the art. The recording heads are typically gimbal mounted to a corresponding suspension arm. The suspension arms are attached to an actuator arm that is pivotally mounted to a base plate of the drive. The actuator arm may have a voice coil that is coupled to a magnet assembly. The voice coil and magnet assembly are commonly referred to as a voice coil motor (xe2x80x9cVCMxe2x80x9d). The voice coil is connected to a circuit that can excite the VCM and induce a pivotal movement of the actuator arm. Swinging the actuator arm moves the heads across the surfaces of the disks. Data is typically located within annular tracks on the disk surfaces. Moving the heads provides access to all of the annular tracks.
Each recording head typically has an air bearing surface which cooperates with an air flow generated by the rotating disks to create an air bearing between the head and adjacent disk surface. The air bearing prevents mechanical wear between the head and the disk. The air bearing is very small to maximize the magnetic coupling between the head and the disk surface.
Hard disk drives are typically manufactured by a disk drive manufacturer and then shipped to another entity that assembles the drive into a computer system. The disk drives may be dropped or otherwise exposed to a shock event during shipping and handling. Additionally, the drives may be assembled into computers that are susceptible to shock events. The shock load may provide an impulse force which causes the disk drive to vibrate. The shock and resultant vibratory response may cause the heads to xe2x80x9cslapxe2x80x9d the disk or induce contact between the suspension arms and the disk surfaces. Head slapping may corrupt the data on the disk or even damage the disk drive components. It would be desirable to provide a disk drive that can dampen the shock load and resultant vibratory response of a shock event.
One embodiment of the present invention is a bumper that can be attached to an outer surface of a hard disk drive housing.